Flying Wheels 2006

Ride Report Flying Wheels 2006

Summary:
Bike: our Erickson tandem
Weather: mid to upper 60s; light winds from the SSW; overcast in the
morning, partial clearing in the afternoon;
Total miles: 70.3; includes the ride to the ride and also home again
Average speed: on-bike, 15 mph; total trip time, 6.5 hours.
Unofficial map of the route: http://www.wayfaring.com/maps/show/17392; we
did not do the loop up to Snohomish and Monroe
Elevation profile: for entire event, he
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/i...kValue=166207;
again, we did the 70 mile loop, so there's a section between mile 36 and 66
that we did not do in the above profile.
Event info he http://www.cascade.org/EandR/flying/index.cfm

Ride details:
Flying Wheels is often touted as a Seattle-to-Portland (STP) warm-up ride.
But unlike STP, you don't have to wake up before the crack of dawn. We live
four downhill miles to the start line for Flying Wheels, so we don't even
have to drive (and thus cope with parking and unloading bikes), making it
even easier. We tootled to the start, picked up a map and cue sheet. Then we
made a brief stop at a nearby Subway, picking up sandwiches for the road,
and finally felt like we were really on our way.

The first major hill is up Inglewood, which has a 12% grade for about half a
mile. David had not quite anticipated it, and we didn't get it into the
granny gear in time. We had to pull over the tandem, dismount, manually
shift gears by pulling up the chain and dropping it on the granny by hand.
Once accomplished, we were able to grind it up the hill, past other slower
cyclists, and those walking their bikes up the steep slope. Coming off the
plateau on the other side, it's an 18% grade for a half mile, and I was
muttering "feather...feather...feather..." to my captain, as it is very
curvy and you can't see what's coming up ahead. It's good that David was
taking it easy, because there was an accident around one bend, with at least
cyclist down and her head bleeding profusely. It would have compounded the
injuries if we had struck one of the bikes that were down or those who had
gathered to render aid.

After an easier, steady climb up Ames Lake Road, we had a really fun descent
into the Snoqualmie River valley. We passed many other cyclists as we took
the center of the road. It's really nice to have traffic watching duties
split into two, with David paying attention to what's ahead, and me looking
behind. We took a brief snack stop at the first rest stop at the Vincent
Community Center, and continued on.

Up the next major hill, at Stillwater, David got into the granny in time. It
was work, but not painful. Because of construction, we were diverted from
the usual Cherry Valley Road to Big Rock Road, which was supposed to also
shave about 5 miles off of the route.

Big Rock had a long descent into the town of Duvall. We just got on the main
Duvall road, when we were diverted back up the hill for another accident,
this one involving only motor vehicles: a logging truck, a camper, and
spilled gasoline. We initially tried to ride up this side street, but it was
simply too steep for the tandem. We finally dismounted, walked the bike for
a bit, and when it leveled out, got back on again. At this point, there were
no Dan Henrys or ride personnel to point the way, so we forged our own
route, and finally ended up on Cherry Valley road past the construction
point. I thought that we'd eat lunch in town, originally, but rather than do
extra miles and confront whatever traffic was messed up from the accident, I
suggested that we just move on to the water stop. We took a break there,
mainly to use the honey buckets. Then, we whipped across the valley floor
back to the Vincent Food Stop, where we ate our Subway sandwiches and
supplimented with the food provided.

While riding through the town of Carnation, I had someone grab our wheel and
started making wise cracks. Only after he started to pass us, did I realize
the cyclist was my co-worker Steve. He was pulling an enormous train of
bikes. I can see why -- Steve is a very strong rider. I know he was doing
the 100 mile route. He probably got a motley assemblage of folks on his
wheel along the way.

Before the final major climb of the day, David and I stopped for gus and
water. Thus fortified, we made it up the Issaquah-Fall City Road. This road
has some steep sections, especially for as late in the ride that it comes.
But it also is a series of stair steps, with a false summit near the top,
and then a final climb to the top. After this climb, we made a brief stop at
the final food stop. Then David took us down the big hill back down to Lake
Sammamish. At this point, we diverted from the official course, and instead
of heading north, up the east side of the lake, we went a bit south, around
the bottom, and then headed north up the west side of the lake.

Our final climb was from the lake up to our home. David always likes to pour
it on in during the last miles of a ride; I told him to cut it out a few
blocks from the house so I could have a little bit of a cool-down before
hitting our driveway.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Claire had an extra semicolon in the link to my unofficial map, it's

http://www.wayfaring.com/maps/show/17392

I had pre-registered for Flying Wheels but didn't think it too likely
that I would get to ride it, either due to weather or my wife needing
help. She had a bunch of errands and appointments planned to do, the
forecast improved, so I went to Marymoor to ride the 100-mile route. I
had two problems, my computer quit at once, and I didn't have a
map/tick sheet. This latter was a big mistake.

I didn't feel super well, grumblings in the gut, slight nausea but I
didn't feel awful, either. I left at 7:35 AM and saw almost nobody
until Ames Lake Rd. First 4.5 miles were fine, then I turned up
Inglewood Hill Rd. It's a one-mile hill, 10-12% grade.

Oh... my... gosh... I thought I would collapse before I made it
up. My legs felt cold, stiff, and weak. I was hyperventilating so
much my hands were tingling. I thought I was going to puke. This
took me by surprise, I've been training quite a bit, rode 90 miles last
Sunday including a lot of hills.
At the top I sucked down some GU and felt just a little bit better.
Going up Ames
Lake Rd I felt OK but very slow, dozens of people passed me. This is a
long hill but much more gradual.

I skipped the first food stop, it comes at only 14 miles and is usually
a long wait, plus with the GU I felt OK. I planned to stop in Duvall,
thinking it would be about mile 20. Going up Stillwater Hill was a
repeat of Ames Lake, no problem but slow. The route went down Big Rock
Rd instead of Cherry Valley due to construction. Along the top of the
ridge I noticed my hamstrings, adductors and the tendons at the hip
were getting more and more sore. I stopped at a Safeway in Duvall, it
was actually at mile 27.5. I bought some bananas, had an Odwalla bar &
a Costco sport drink. I felt AWFUL. My legs & hips were KILLING me.
I could hardly walk the first couple of steps. I seriously considered
bailing
out of the ride, for fear that continuing would cause an injury. I've
never had anything like this happen before during a ride, especially
after less than 30 miles. I've bonked, and my quads have felt tired,
but never this. I was freaking out. I wasn't sure what to do. I
couldn't reach my wife, I didn't want to call the support people
(they'd
tell me I was an idiot for riding so far, which I was). I decided to
ride on, not push it, and see what happened. I felt I could always
call somebody from Snohomish if need be, or turn back for Duvall.

I was very slow to Snohomish, and stopped there. Had another banana
and a GU. Sat on a bench. Started feeling just a bit better. Decided
to try for Monroe and reassess. Got to Monroe, was surprised how
hungry I felt. Spent quite awhile in Monroe, at least 45 minutes,
maybe longer. Found out I was over 1/2 way. Ate quite a bit, and
rested longer than I normally would have because my wife called and we
chatted for 15 minutes or so. The guy who let me look at his map was
on his first organized ride, he had questions about the rest of the
route and about STP. We chatted for a bit. Filled my CamelBak and put
NUUN in it.

The route from Monroe is very flat for over 20 miles until the big
3-mile hill coming out of Fall City. I worried about that hill
mightily, one part
of it is 10%. It would be really ignominious to have to walk it, but I
feared my legs would be shot by then, the hill comes at about mile 80.
I thought about taking
a shortcut back to the finish along Redmond-Fall City Rd.

I stopped at Starbucks in Carnation, had an Odwalla juice drink, a
bagel, and a banana. Had promised to phone Doris at 1:30, I sat
outside for 15 minutes after eating waiting for 1:30 to come. I.e. I
sat for longer than my usual stop.

Headed south full of dread but actually was feeling quite a bit better.
Now that I was on the combined 50-70-100 route I was actually passing
people instead of mostly vice versa. On the 100-mile portion I only
passed 3 people, probably 200 passed me, most going very fast (22+). I
ate another GU a few miles before the hill.

Got to the big hill, and rode up it no problem. Slow as usual but not
dying like on Inglewood. Got to the last food stop and skipped it, as
I felt great. Zoomed down the hill, got on E. Lake Sammamish, and
actually pulled 3 people to Marymoor. It really helped that we had a
tailwind. I had no idea how fast we were going, one of the guys
thanked me as we tuned in to the park, I asked him how fast we had
been going and he said 18-19 on the flat. I felt better than I had all
day. Got to my car at 3:05 PM, felt pretty good at finishing in less
than 8 hours. The guy parked next to me was older and heavier than me
but he made a big point of telling me he'd done the 100 miles in under
7 hours. He's also headed to California next weekend to do a 200-mile
ride. Good for you pal, but I'm happy I even finished this ride at
all! I thought I'd have a tough drive home, that I'd be very stiff.
One of the two bridges across Lake Washington was closed, traffic was
awful, took me a long time to drive home. Stopped for gas, got out and
walked into the minimart to buy a soda, no problem.

Got home, soaked in the tub, and feel better than I did after last
week's ride.

So, clearly I had not had enough to eat the previous night & that
morning, and
I needed to stop more often and for longer. I also think I had some
kind of stomach bug that died down a bit after the lunch stop in
Monroe.

The upside was I survived the ride and the weather was just the right
temperature, not too cold, not too hot, not much wind until the last
stretch, and it was blowing the right way. The main downside to the
ride was solitude. Other than a couple of brief chats, I talked to no
one, and never rode with anyone except to pull some strangers along the
last 9 miles. I MISSED my riding buddies!!! A shorter route with
friends would
have been far preferable.

And yes, on STP I won't skip any food stops!!

"skeptic53" wrote in message
ups.com...

I didn't feel super well, grumblings in the gut, slight nausea but I
didn't feel awful, either. I left at 7:35 AM and saw almost nobody
until Ames Lake Rd.

That's because the ride officially begins at 8:00 AM.

I felt AWFUL. My legs & hips were KILLING me.
I could hardly walk the first couple of steps. I seriously considered
bailing
out of the ride, for fear that continuing would cause an injury. I've
never had anything like this happen before during a ride, especially
after less than 30 miles. I've bonked, and my quads have felt tired,
but never this. I was freaking out.

I'm surprised that at this point you decided to proceed with the 100. You
could have just done the 70.

I thought about taking
a shortcut back to the finish along Redmond-Fall City Rd.

There's construction that way; I rode it about a week ago. I wasn't a barrel
of laughs with flaggers to control traffic; without them and no shoulder, it
would have been no fun at all.

It really helped that we had a
tailwind.

Yes indeedy. There's usually a headwind as you come south through the Sno
River valley, which can make that stretch seem interminable; it's nice to
have a tail wind for the final ~10 miles or so.

So, clearly I had not had enough to eat the previous night & that
morning, and
I needed to stop more often and for longer. I also think I had some
kind of stomach bug that died down a bit after the lunch stop in
Monroe.

All of this is probably true.

Other than a couple of brief chats, I talked to no
one, and never rode with anyone except to pull some strangers along the
last 9 miles.

Ah, the advantage of a tandem.

I MISSED my riding buddies!!! A shorter route with
friends would have been far preferable.

So where were they?

And yes, on STP I won't skip any food stops!!

See you there. You doing a one day or a two?

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Hi All,
Any idea what the total number of riders wass thgat participated in the
'Flying Wheels' saturday?
I loved it, although the the first hill really softened me up for the
reaminder of the 100miles.
Thanks,
Aaron
Claire Petersky wrote:
"skeptic53" wrote in message
ups.com...

I didn't feel super well, grumblings in the gut, slight nausea but I
didn't feel awful, either. I left at 7:35 AM and saw almost nobody
until Ames Lake Rd.

That's because the ride officially begins at 8:00 AM.

I felt AWFUL. My legs & hips were KILLING me.
I could hardly walk the first couple of steps. I seriously considered
bailing
out of the ride, for fear that continuing would cause an injury. I've
never had anything like this happen before during a ride, especially
after less than 30 miles. I've bonked, and my quads have felt tired,
but never this. I was freaking out.

I'm surprised that at this point you decided to proceed with the 100. You
could have just done the 70.

I thought about taking
a shortcut back to the finish along Redmond-Fall City Rd.

There's construction that way; I rode it about a week ago. I wasn't a barrel
of laughs with flaggers to control traffic; without them and no shoulder, it
would have been no fun at all.

It really helped that we had a
tailwind.

Yes indeedy. There's usually a headwind as you come south through the Sno
River valley, which can make that stretch seem interminable; it's nice to
have a tail wind for the final ~10 miles or so.

So, clearly I had not had enough to eat the previous night & that
morning, and
I needed to stop more often and for longer. I also think I had some
kind of stomach bug that died down a bit after the lunch stop in
Monroe.

All of this is probably true.

Other than a couple of brief chats, I talked to no
one, and never rode with anyone except to pull some strangers along the
last 9 miles.

Ah, the advantage of a tandem.

I MISSED my riding buddies!!! A shorter route with
friends would have been far preferable.

So where were they?

And yes, on STP I won't skip any food stops!!

See you there. You doing a one day or a two?

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

wrote in message
oups.com...

Any idea what the total number of riders was that participated in the
'Flying Wheels' Saturday?

Highest bib number I saw was 2450 -- 2500 sounds about right. I think the
ride maxes out at 3000.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky